Wiz delayed

Patrick V. Hickey reports from poolside that James Wisniewski’s departure from New York has been delayed by airport chaos.

The newly-acquired defenceman will join his teammates tonight.

The Canadiens cancelled morning practice today.

Josh Gorges is listed as day-to-day, and Carey Price starts against the Lightning tomorrow night.

Depressing Tweet of the Day (by Steven Hindle): Although no longer with the team, Georges Laraque still collects $2,688 from the Canadiens every single day of the 2010 regular season.

Benchmark for Josh Gorges? Tevor Daley signs for six years, $19.8 million in Dallas. He’s bigger than Gorges and was drafted 43rd overall in ’02, the year Gorges signed with San Jose as an undrafted free agent. Daley has 28 NHL goals to 8 for Gorges. but there are intangibles …

45 Comments

You’re absolutely right. It isn’t as if the fans are actually bankrolling the team… I got my free season tickets and cable package, including rebates on other merchandise sold by companies who advertise with the Habs, didn’t you?

We as Habs fans need to stop being so emotionally attached to our team and the players in the system…we need to honest and rational about the talent we actually have on the ice and in the system. truthfully if the group of players we put on the ice every game are not getting the job done, then there is a problem.

Currently in the Montreal we are not icing a team that can win games…the players are not able or willing to go to the dirty areas in front of the net…are afraid of being hit with the puck in front of the net…or just don’t have enough fire in their belly to force the issue and go to the net and score… there are players like this on other teams…we have not selected or developed this type of player…SO…lets make the trades we need to do to acquire this type of player…but you know what folks…we are all going to chock ad whine when Pierre G. finally pulls the trigger and makes a trade that sends some of our beloved prospects to other organizations for the gutzy players we were unable to draft or develop within the organization.

He’s a real solid 5th or 6th, and still a solid second pairing guy. As long as you don’t put him against the other teams best, he should make out just fine.

Chicago has way too much depth on defense to keep him, and anaheim….well, they’re just anaheim. They traded Joffrey Lupul only to re-acquire him, they’re odd, lets just leave it at that.

A gift second round pick, and a conditional 5th is a very small price to pay for a solid offensive d-man with a mean streak, who showed Sean Avery, as one poster said yesterday, how to eat a “Mr. Freezie”.

James Wisniewski: “Thanks Travis, so what’s the story with this team besides everyone going ape s*&t over this kid who’s only 21-years-old?”

Moen: “Well we’ve got a lot of important parts but one thing we’ve been missing is some heart and grit. They’ve placed the enforcer duties on me but I’m a light heavyweight at best. Do you think you might be able to contribute because I’m not into having the enforcer from every team looking for me?”

Wisniewski: “Hey, you’re bigger than me but I’ll gladly chip in when I can. Why is management so content with having such a small team that gets laughed at around the league?”

Moen: “Not sure but it’s embarrassing. If we were winning Stanley Cups it might make sense but who knows what their logic is?”

Wisniewski: “Let’s go grab a beer at that Chez Paris place downtown when we get back into Montreal.”

It’s really hard to know what to expect from this guy. He’s certainly got a nice resume: OHL All Rookie Team in 2001, Major Junior Defenseman of the Year 2004. He’s shown toughness in the O and also in the AHL, where he put up 110 PIM as a rookie. He’s obviously having a good season this year -his UFA year – but he’s never really been a big scorer in the pros.

Does anybody else find it odd that after a decent offensive season, the Ducks let him go for a 3rd rounder? Or that the Habs got him for a 2nd and a 5th when he was the Isles leading scorer? Does he have major defensive problems? Is he some sort of Jason Blake type guy who doesn’t fit into the dressing room? Or is it simply that he hasn’t quite found his niche yet?

Nobody seems to know much about him, probably because he’s played mostly in the West where the teams receive relatively little scrutiny. I’m personally really curious to find out what we’ve got here!

What the Habs need are the offensive skills he’s shown this year for the Isles, on the power play, yes, but also let us hope he can fix up some of the transition problems they’ve had since losing Markov. Beyond that, I love that he hits and will stand up for his goalie and other mates … he’s instantly the only tough D-man we’ve got. If he is also sound defensively then this is a beautiful deal and the perfect solution to the Markov injury, given that it cost zero roster players.

How could it go bad? Well … Wisniewski could turn out to have merely average skills and be really brutal defensively, or he could turn out to be some kind of dressing room misfit. The first I doubt, the second is a possibility though I can’t find anything online where his defensive skills are knocked, and the third is pretty unlikely and complete and total speculation on my part.

I’ve been reading the Islanders blog, now those fans are not panicked, but extremely depressed. They don’t all agree about the Wiz, not like us, we always agree about everything here. 😉

(I’m paraphrasing here) Anyways most are angry to see him go because he’s tied for leading scorer and one of their top 2 Ds. They feel he was given too much for 1st/2nd Dman but is the best 3rd/4th D, and will do better in Mtl because he fits here better than NY. Since Tavares was his best friend there, some think he will follow him here…if only.

They believe management let him go easily because he always told it like it was and hated playing in Long Island, and they’re dumba$$s.

As one fan says “Who would play for the Islanders on purpose?” Priceless

GM Gauthier makes another brilliant move. After signing Plekenac & Price and obtaining Halpern, Eller, he now adds James Wisniewski who adds experience, depth and toughness. ESPN’s Mike Hume reports that the Canadiens got the better of the deal.

This team has 4 solid lines, a top goaltender and a very good group of defencemen. They can shut down any team and have a sniper like Cammalleri who can score big goals when it is needed (last play-offs he was by far the best forward and leading scorer).

What this teams needs is a coach that can develop some team chemistry.

“It’s too much for one guy to shoulder. For us, we’re going to do it as a group. It’s about sharing that responsibility win or lose.” – Mike Cammalleri

I feel the same, his playoff honeymoon is over — hard to score when you get less than 2 shots per game (past 4 games), suppose to be our big sniper! Where’s the effort, I guess 6 million per season isn’t enough!!!

Yeah, he really doesnt look like the same player this year. I never expected him to score 80 pts every year, but I certainly expected better than the 27 goal/61 point pace he is currently on. Jacques Martin’s “defense ONLY” (as opposed to “defense FIRST”) mentality is taking its toll on the offensive guns, which is a shame considering the habs have so much offensive talent. Imagine if these players had an up-tempo, puck posession system to work with…

Coaches dont develop team chemistry anyways, and if you think Martin’s coaching was the reason that habs upset two top seeds in the playoffs last year…well, I dont even know what to tell you…That’s just ridiculous.